Comoé National Park (Côte d’Ivoire) (N 227)

3. Warmly welcomes the important progress accomplished by the State Party in the implementation of certain corrective measures since the normalization of the security situation, notably regaining control of the property by the management authority and the resumption of management and surveillance operations once again;

4. Regrets that the State Party has still not responded to the Committee request to confirm officially that no mining exploration permit affecting the property has been granted, and requests the State Party to officially confirm that no mining permit, exploration or exploitation, industrial or artisanal, affects the property and to submit the results of the impact studies on the mining permits granted in the northern part of the property on its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) to the World Heritage Centre, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines ;

5. Notes with concern the conclusion of the IUCN monitoring mission that the OUV for which the property was inscribed on the World Heritage List is greatly degraded and that the populations of key species like the elephant, the chimpanzee and the lion have been reduced to a worrying degree, but notes that the current populations of other species can recover if the appropriate conditions are reunited, and therefore the OUV can be recuperated;

6. Also requests the State Party to carry out an aerial inventory without delay to confirm the status of the populations of flagship species that motivated the inscription of the property and to repeat it at least once every two years to monitor the rehabilitation of the populations;

7. Takes note of the draft Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger, and urges the State Party in cooperation with IUCN to define the value indicators once the inventory data is made available;

8. Strongly urges the State Party to implement the corrective measures as highlighted by the monitoring mission, notably:

a) Complete the development and rehabilitation of the necessary infrastructure for the effective control and patrolling of the property, including the establishment of staffed and equipped control posts in all the sectors of the Park,

b) Approve and implement the Management Plan for the property, as well as the three-year Rehabilitation Plan, taking specific note of the following points:

(i) Define the boundaries of all the proposed zones in the provisional zoning of the property and the activities allowed and forbidden in each zone,

(ii) Establish provisions for the formalization and responsibilization of the participatory management structures within all the villages that surround the property, including the control and monitoring of the property,

c) Finalise the restoration of the integrity of the property, totally excluding cattle in the Park, combating agricultural encroachment in all the sectors of the property and in rehabilitating the degraded land;

9. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2014 , a detailed report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the corrective measures for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 38th session in 2014;

10. Decides to retain the Comoé National Park (Côte d’Ivoire) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.